The Twenty-Four
The Twenty-Four were, appropriately enough, a group of twenty-four adversaries who opposed the main characters in three separate ITMs. ITM 3 In Tower ITM, the Twenty-Four were introduced early: Black discovered a woman bound and gagged in the back of a car and being accosted by a strange beast. After freeing her Black continued onward only to run into two strange men that asked he hand the woman over, one of whom was later identified as a man called Deacon. Over time, it became clear that they were the opposite number of the main characters, the New Braves. Each of the Twenty-Four possessed a dark version of the Zodiac Stones of the New Braves: Twelve of the Occidental Zodiac and twelve of the Oriental. They served a master nicknamed Wireface, and claimed to be originally from the real world just as the New Braves were (though this was difficult to imagine in the case of DF). Wireface claimed to be a gestalt of human consciousness formed by the Internet that sought to return the world to its original form under its rule. The Twenty-Four mostly wanted to support the team against Wireface, but could not do so entirely. Wireface would give them directives that they must follow to the letter, and over time would seal loopholes the Twenty-Four exploited to avoid having to kill the team. ITM 7 As the apparent prior champions of the Ordeal, the team had to face the Twenty-Four courtesy of a being known as "Champion" as one of the trials encountered on the way up Mount Ordeals. However, only Deacon, Elisia, and a few others were fought in the Ordeals before it was revealed that some mysterious outside force was depowering them. In the interests of honor, the team agreed to defer their fight until later. In the Dark Tournament, the quarter-finals match was against the Twenty-Four. This is when Quixotic Unity occurred. The Twenty-Four, powerful as they were, could not handle the unified power of the team. This Twenty-Four appeared to have somehow become separate from Wireface. ITM 8.6 After DF, acting separately from the Scions of Death, had convinced the player characters to hand him the music box from the Black Vault, the Twenty-Four were brought into the ITM 8.6 Earth by the Litany. This had the effect of transforming DF into Wireface, while also allowing him to fuse with his ITM 3 incarnation and therefore become a member of the real world, short-circuiting the plan to use the Obelisks against him. The Twenty-Four were brought back into the ITM 8.6 Earth, under the command of DF, who knew the loopholes he would exploit under Wireface's command regimen and thus closed all of them. This also had the effect of transforming all of the Scions into Twenty-Four members, granting them great power. Member List Alstir: 'A mysterious hashishim, Alstir demonstrated substantial honor, not least in admonishing Paulie for striking Foxclip in Tower ITM. '''Deacon: '''A well-built man wrapped from head to toe in bandages and sporting an old-style private detective's coat and hat. He has displayed himself to be a proficient user of kunai and explosive tags, and is highly resistant to physical pain. Deacon developed a substantial rivalry with Black. 'Dominique Farruk: Arek's clone, apparently extracted from him by Frank Higgs somehow. DF is a Blood Magi, a manipulator of life, blood, death and the organic. A sadistic, vile sociopath and supersoldier, DF was behind many conspiracies and plans against the team in Tower ITM. He was the Nezumi King who was responsible for infecting Mephiasu with the poison that led Mephiasu to becoming a Mystic. In ITM 6, Arek was fused with DF thanks to Quixotic Unity, becoming a bodhisattva. Elisia: '''The little girl that travels with the twenty-four and is Alstirs foster daughter. She employs a variety of childrens toys to fight her opponents, and to great effect as some of the group have witnessed first hand. In Tower ITM, she was one of the first of the Twenty-Four to appear and the first the team had any substantial success against. Her teddy bear was destroyed by Arek's first usage of Aura Lance, which destroyed several blocks in the Nezumi City. In ITM VII, Elisia fought Mika on Mt. Ordeals in a summoner's battle. Despite her tendancy to go easy on opponents her raw power is makes her the second strongest member of the twenty four. '''Gordon Quid, of the Highland Quid Clan: '''First encountered inside a giant Silithid during Arek's Bear Form quest, it was only later revealed that he was a member of the Twenty-Four. A warrior more concerned with honorable combat than furthering Wireface's goals, Gordon was much liked by the adventurers he encountered. '''Helmut: '''An arrancar. He had never revealed his resurrecion and had fought mostly in physical combat. Arek was fond of Helmut, but Helmut did have a profound dark side... '''Jacqueline: '''A mild mannered girl with red hair dressed in a crimson kimono, a red and white fox flip holding back her hair on one side. She has displayed a great ability for sword play and Balefire. She was found by Black and Dunce being accosted by a tentacle beast, then she was kidnapped by Deacon and member of the Twenty-Four. Later, Black, Mephiasu and Arek climbed an icy mountain to save her, but were rebuffed by Paulie, Alstir, and Helmut. She is mute and communicates with sign language. '''Jake: '''Jacqueline's brother, Jake was a vermin lord who specialized in spiders. He demonstrated Spiderman-like abilities. '''Jhonny: '''A psychic hitman and former child soldier, his new empathic abilites caused him to doubt his alliance with wireface and attempt to work against him at all oppurtunites. '''Kouzoku: '''A Shinigami within the Twenty-Four, he is a man of little words and the group's premier swordmaster. He is the 10th strongest member of the twenty four. '''No face: '''A metahuman who specializes in information gathering, he was only met once during the Dark Tournament when he was sent to deliver a message. '''Paulie ("Paula"): '''A young man dressed to fit the "greaser" stereotype. Aside from being an expert dance-fighter and womanizer, few of his other skills of his have been seen. He did use a giant comb in his first fight against Arek, Black and Mephiasu. '''Puppet Douche: '''This puppetmaster's abilities weren't ever fully demonstrated, but he was able to go toe-to-toe against Thrash Ranari '''Roxy: '''A Jedi who was also apparently a lesbian, Arek was attracted to her schoolgirl outfit and hit on her constantly, to no avail. '''Wooden supermodel: